Matt Jones

Space Rock 'On Collision Course'

Did that headline cause a slight twinge of fear when you
read it? It did with me when I read this
article on the BBC’s new Science and
Nature section. So is this a case of the BBC
sensationalising the issue, or have we really got something
to worry about? The fact is that scientists are uncertain at
the moment, so a headline such as ‘Space Rock maybe
‘on collision course” would perhaps be more appropriate. If
this 2 kilometer wide lump of rock is going to hit the Earth
at 28 kilometers a second, we’ve certainly got a while to
prepare ourselves for it; it’s not due until the year 2019.
Hopefully, by that time, we’ll have the technology to do
something about it; I think a 50 mile long, fusion powered
baseball bat should do the trick.